Tony,Glad to hear the ret of the machine is OK. All to often one unit fails and it wipes out all of them.
Hard to tell from the pictures but do the slippers have rolled edges Vs being smooth wear they contact the swash plate.
Do the slippers have wear on the underside where they contact the slipper retaining plate.
If yes to the above it sounds like you may be experiencing slipper lift under certain conditions. This can be from excessive speed, cold oil, weakening load springs, or a combination of factors. This will cause the slippers to wear unevenly, puts extra stress on the retaining plate.
I f you know of 4 machines that have failed with similar hours and the same exact failure, I would looking at trying to determine why.
Out of curiosity do you know what brand of pump this is? I.e. Sauer Danfoss, Rexroth, Parker, etc.
Model number of pump:
what the operating conditions are? Operating speed in RPM, Operating pressure, Oil type and weight.
is this closed loop hydrostatic drive to cutter head.
With this info, someone might be able to provide you with a possible cause of failure.
Roy